Former chair of Mashpee Wampanoag tribe pleads guilty to tax fraud

The former leader of Massachusetts’ Mashpee Wampanoag Nation got in trouble yet again for fraud. Cedric Cromwell, 60, of Attleboro, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to four counts of filing a false tax return. Prosecutors say that he failed to report more than $177,000 on his federal tax returns from 2014 through 2017. Cromwell was once the chairman of the Cape Cod-based Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, also known as the People of the First Light. It was in this capacity that he served as “owner’s representative” for a casino project that ended up being his downfall — even though his history in court has had its ups and downs. On May 5, 2022, a federal jury sitting in Boston convicted Cromwell of three counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official light. The trial court then vacated that conviction, but the Appeals Court reinstated it. When Cromwell then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the court declined to hear his case. Prosecutors say that Cromwell extorted an architecture and design firm contracted to design the proposed First Light Resort and Casino in Taunton. Cromwell created the “One Nation Development LLC” corporate entity supposedly to fund the casino project but instead used it as a shell company to hide his bribes, according to court documents. Federal prosecutors say that Cromwell failed to report $57,549 that he extorted from the architecture firm, failed to report $45,023 that he received from the initial architect on the casino project and failed to report $74,821 that he received from one or more companies which developed and supplied forest carbon offsets. Filing a false tax return carries a sentence of up to three years in prison, the extortion charges each provide sentences of up to 20 years in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Nov. 5.